An attorney who represented a whistle-blower formerly employed by prospective Astros owner Jim Crane says there is no evidence Crane knew his employees had submitted fraudulent invoices for wartime shipments to the Middle East.

Greg Dykeman, an attorney with the Beaumont law firm Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, made the statements in a letter sent Wednesday to Crane. Crane, who is awaiting a decision by Major League Baseball on his pending $680 million purchase of the Astros from Drayton McLane, provided a copy of the letter to the Chronicle.

The Chronicle reported in late August the Astros sale has been delayed while MLB continues to investigate charges of war profiteering and alleged unfair hiring practices of blacks and women at his former freight forwarding company, Eagle Global Logistics, according to an official familiar with the process.

Dykeman says in the letter he represented a former EGL employee, described as a whistle-blower regarding improper actions by EGL executives, in a civil case filed in a U.S. District Court in Beaumont.

EGL’s wrongdoing

Describing himself as an Astros season-ticket holder and McLane supporter, he wrote to Crane: “At no time during this lawsuit and investigation was there ever any belief or evidence that you personally had any involvement with or were even aware of the scheme by the responsible employees. All indications were that this was an isolated incident and you had no knowledge of their actions.”

In 2006, in the wake of what Crane described at the time as “isolated actions of a few employees,” EGL agreed to pay $4 million to settle allegations that it overcharged the U.S. military to ship goods from Dubai to Iraq.

In an interview earlier this month with the Chronicle, Crane said: “There was not one executive in the corporate office that knew anything about this. Once these things were validated, the company sat down with the Justice Department, paid a fine — a big fine — and we terminated the two individuals.”

Letter unsolicited

A former company vice president based in Dubai was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to inflating invoices by $1.1 million for a “war risk surcharge” of 50 cents per kilograms that did not exist.

A year later, a former EGL executive pleaded guilty to charges that he provided nearly $25,000 in perks to employees of KBR and lied to federal investigators. Also in 2007, EGL agreed to pay $300,000 to settle allegations that one of its agents in Kuwait overcharged the military for the rental of shipping containers bound for Iraq.

Dykeman concluded the letter by granting Crane permission to use the letter “in any matter that will benefit you, Drayton and the proposed sale.”

Dykeman said he wasn’t asked to write the letter by Crane or his representatives but did so to help set the record straight.